In this video, Golf Monthly reader Amanda Rowley gets a golf lesson from Nick Dougherty in this episode of Game Improved.
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00:00 - Hello everyone, Neil Tappan here from Golf Monthly
00:02 and welcome to Wentworth Club
00:03 and the second in our three-part series
00:06 in which we're going to try to help some amateur golfers
00:09 shoot lower scores.
00:10 Now, in this episode, we have Amanda Rowley
00:13 who is an 18 handicapper.
00:15 She's only been playing the game for sort of
00:17 five or six years,
00:18 but she's managed to get her handicap down to 18.
00:21 And she's gonna get the chance to play three holes here
00:23 on the West Course at Wentworth
00:25 and then head to the range, all with Nick Doherty,
00:27 to see if Nick can offer her some tips and some strategy
00:30 advice on how to play better.
00:32 Right, let's get started.
00:34 (upbeat music)
00:37 Right, so Amanda, tell us a bit, what's your handicap
00:49 and where's your golf at at the moment?
00:51 - My handicap at the moment is 17.7.
00:54 So I play off at my club about 19, 20.
00:57 I've had quite a good summer of golf.
01:00 The consistency's definitely getting better,
01:03 but my weakness, I would say, is my short game.
01:06 - Right, okay.
01:07 - And that's down to confidence, really.
01:08 I've just lost my confidence with it.
01:10 - So you only, I think we're right in saying
01:12 that you only started playing golf a few years ago,
01:14 maybe five or six years ago. - Yeah, 2016,
01:16 and then obviously we've had COVID in between,
01:17 so a few years off.
01:19 - Okay, so you've come down quickly then.
01:21 - Yes, yes.
01:22 - Where would you want to get to in, you know,
01:24 the next couple of years?
01:25 - I'd love to be, eventually, single figure,
01:28 if I can ever get there.
01:29 I can't see it, 'cause I always manage to blob holes
01:32 every time I go out.
01:33 - We know how you feel.
01:35 - But yeah, I mean, I would love to comfortably
01:37 be able to play off 12, 13, and still be able to score well.
01:41 - So what do you think Nick will be able to help you
01:43 with the most?
01:44 - My drive, and definitely the short game.
01:46 - Yeah, some nice, simple tips that we'll hopefully
01:49 be able to take with you onto the golf course
01:51 to help you get your handicap down.
01:52 - Yeah.
01:52 (upbeat music)
01:55 (golf club clacks)
01:58 (upbeat music)
02:27 - A little bit like you're gonna hit it.
02:30 Lovely, there isn't it?
02:31 - Yeah.
02:32 - Feels completely different.
02:33 I mean, like I'm hitting a high shot.
02:35 Gonna feel a tiny bit more this way.
02:41 If it's too low, it's gonna make us wanna
02:43 sort of hit the ground first.
02:44 Nice.
02:47 So the swing, depending on the distance,
02:49 and it's gonna have that same flow, whatever it is.
02:51 Lovely.
02:53 - Thank you, thanks.
02:55 - Okay, so Nick, you got the chance to play
02:57 three holes with Amanda, and then spent some time
02:59 on the range with her.
03:01 Good player, strikes it really nicely.
03:02 What were the sort of things that you were talking about
03:04 to try and help her improve?
03:06 - Well, we talked about a couple of different parts
03:07 of the game.
03:08 One was sort of short game pitching,
03:10 and then the long game.
03:12 The long game was the easiest.
03:14 These are the sweetest things to work on with people,
03:17 because it's a gift that gives immediately,
03:21 and was very easy to attain.
03:22 - Right, okay, got it.
03:23 - So for her, it was something simple.
03:25 Whenever there's things to amend that are pre-movement,
03:29 they're always gonna bear fruit quickly.
03:31 - Right, okay.
03:32 - Because it's something that you literally
03:33 stood over the ball, and I made a slight adjustment,
03:36 as much as it might feel a little bit different,
03:38 and it's not drastically different,
03:40 and then the rest is you just do what you do.
03:42 That's gonna be easy to apply.
03:43 Once I start saying, well, as we change direction,
03:45 I want you to, you know, and I will do anything
03:47 I possibly can to avoid that.
03:49 I may try and provide someone with a feel,
03:51 a general overwhelming feel.
03:53 For her, Amanda, it was really easy.
03:55 So the ball flight, I thought,
03:57 the T was a little low for starters,
03:58 but then when I went to check out where she stood to it,
04:00 she could see she's got plenty of power, moves well,
04:02 you can see that she's strong
04:03 in the way that she moves the club,
04:05 but it was flatter, so I could see a big improvement
04:08 could be made with the ball flight.
04:09 I noticed that in the 11th, and when it got to 12,
04:11 she actually had to improve the ball flight,
04:13 because of the fact of there's trees in the way.
04:15 I was like, how is she gonna do it?
04:16 And the interesting, this was a classic, again,
04:18 feel versus real thing for Amanda,
04:20 where she thought the ball was in her stance
04:23 actually wasn't where it really was.
04:26 So what we did to improve it was,
04:28 I wanted a little bit more tilt in her upper body,
04:31 which is what you see with any top player.
04:33 I mean, you think about Rory McIlroy
04:34 hits up on it six degrees,
04:35 when he's going for the big one, it's a lot of that.
04:37 And of course, we're not looking for that.
04:39 But what we don't want is a really,
04:41 either a descending blow, certainly,
04:43 even zeroing out is like,
04:45 it put pressure on her as well with the low T.
04:48 You've gotta be spot on.
04:49 It's like, I'm a big fan for, if anything,
04:50 give it a little bit too much air.
04:52 It also means that you can obviously tee it up nice and high
04:54 and meet the ball up here.
04:56 Whereas if it's at a perfect level
04:58 when your club's on the ground,
04:59 you ain't gonna, well, you should be touching the ground
05:01 when you come through the driver,
05:02 which inevitably means you're gonna be hitting it
05:04 too low in the face.
05:05 So it's gonna come out flatter with too much spin,
05:06 which means you're losing distance.
05:08 So low flight, high spin, not good.
05:10 We want high launch, low spin, don't we?
05:12 Hit the top end anyway.
05:14 So we simply move the ball further forward in the stance,
05:16 which to Amanda felt way forward.
05:18 All I had to do was to take a picture and show her.
05:21 So this is what you would stood to the ball
05:23 on this last shot.
05:24 And of course, it's not forward, it just looks great.
05:27 Yeah, it looks like that's where it should be all the time.
05:29 And well, that's where we're gonna put it all the time.
05:31 And then we're gonna have it teed up higher
05:32 and the ever so, and it's very subtle movement.
05:35 The shift obviously creates this a much easier position
05:38 to find that up strike.
05:39 And also for her, is a very easy, natural way
05:43 to get away from a little bit more like feeling a very,
05:45 this is not a lot, ever so slightly over the top.
05:47 Just moving this way a little bit will help to encourage
05:50 that more inside out.
05:51 - Again, without having to think about not.
05:52 - Not trying to do anything funky.
05:53 - And she got that change pretty quickly.
05:55 - Immediately.
05:56 - Yeah.
05:57 - And the drives were the best drives that we saw all day.
05:58 The ball flight was great.
06:00 It was strong, it was long.
06:02 I mean, that was again hitting the drive
06:05 that she was using today.
06:06 And you wouldn't change anything about that.
06:09 That's as good as it gets.
06:10 So I think that was a really, I mean,
06:12 it's so easy to change.
06:13 And then we did some stuff with the short game as well,
06:15 which was when you get out of the heavy lies,
06:18 the instincts for everybody really,
06:20 like you lift it out of that lie because it's gnarly
06:23 and how's it going to come out?
06:25 But ironically, the lifting thing is something
06:28 that moves the sternum back usually.
06:31 And if nothing else, certainly shallows out the attack,
06:33 which means you come through more grass,
06:35 which means it won't come out.
06:36 So ironically, we have to make peace
06:38 with we're going down into the ground and it's the club,
06:41 not me that gets the ball out of the grass.
06:43 But going in through that grass,
06:44 well, we had to make peace with got to hit it harder.
06:46 Bit like out of a bunker shot,
06:47 a bit like I talked with Josh there as well today.
06:49 Like you got to have more speed,
06:50 just trust, have more speed, have more speed.
06:52 And it is better.
06:53 Not enough speed will create way more problems.
06:56 - Yeah, and that's why you got to practice these shots.
06:57 You got to convince yourself that it's the way to play it.
06:59 - And she demonstrated a priority in that straight away.
07:02 And I think for her as well,
07:03 getting a feeling for the pace.
07:04 And we talked about controlling distance
07:06 is something she battles with.
07:08 So we talked about trying to match it on both sides.
07:10 Because again, that becomes easy, right?
07:12 Same there.
07:13 Quarter, quarter, or half, half,
07:16 or three quarter, three quarter.
07:17 And a rhythm though, like that, that stays the same.
07:20 Whereas if I'm always going to be different,
07:22 sometimes short and quick,
07:23 sometimes longer and slightly slower.
07:25 How do you know?
07:26 - Really hard to judge the pace.
07:27 - Whereas then, if I've got the same feeling all the time,
07:29 I can stand next to her.
07:30 Well, that's why we see like the guys,
07:32 sometimes top players, being next to the ball,
07:34 and feel the shot like that.
07:36 Because they know exactly that pace,
07:37 and then they're going to step in and just recreate it.
07:39 And it makes it so much easier.
07:41 Again, not an overly complicated thing
07:43 for her to apply.
07:44 And she did so beautifully as well.
07:46 So I think she made some really big strides with that.
07:48 - And then, what about in terms of game plan and strategy?
07:52 Amanda seems to me to be getting better quite quickly.
07:55 So how do you adjust your kind of game plan
07:57 to as an improving golfer?
07:59 What do you, how should she be thinking
08:01 when she's out on the golf course?
08:03 - I think again, resisting the urge to force it along,
08:06 and building a way around the golf course,
08:08 playing to your strengths, is a great way to get better.
08:12 You know, and you could see that today,
08:13 a couple of times when we looked at how to play the hole.
08:16 You know, I think for instance, like the 11th,
08:18 where she was hitting up the hill,
08:21 picking the shot that gives you the most amount of room.
08:23 So I think that's a strategy that applies across the board,
08:24 regardless of ability.
08:26 But having the patience that you're naturally
08:28 going to get better each time,
08:29 and you'll be able to alter your target lines as you go.
08:32 But make it easy.
08:34 Make it as easy, don't put yourself under the cosh
08:37 to make it harder than it needs to be.
08:39 Even though you think, "Oh, I think I can play that shot now."
08:42 It's like, that's fine in practice,
08:44 but in tournament stuff, play smart.
08:46 Because generally the best players,
08:48 and it's the biggest ever misconception about Tiger Woods,
08:51 is that we think, well, this is a box office golfer,
08:53 of which there's never been another like it.
08:55 One of the most conservative golfers of all time.
08:57 - Is that right?
08:58 - Very rarely went at the flag,
09:00 in terms of if it didn't fit in his dispersion pattern.
09:03 - Right, yeah.
09:04 - Never took a risk, played smart,
09:06 always picked the right side of the hole
09:07 to give him a buffer.
09:08 So playing smart gives you room for error.
09:11 And if he needed to do it,
09:12 and he was arguably one, if not the greatest ever,
09:15 certainly one of the top two with Jack,
09:17 then we should probably take a note from that.
09:19 And we probably play too aggressively at times.
09:21 So playing within ourselves,
09:23 as much as it's sometimes fun to go for the hero shot,
09:25 and I'm a big advocate of that,
09:27 when push comes to shove, if we're talking handicap,
09:29 let's play smart.
09:29 - Yeah, so there you go.
09:31 If you want to get your handicap down,
09:33 then sometimes that patience, it sounds easy,
09:36 but it requires a lot of discipline,
09:37 it's well worth giving a go.
09:39 So there you have it.
09:40 That's our look at Amanda's game,
09:42 and Nick's advice to help her shoot lower scores.
09:44 I think the key thing here is,
09:46 the advice coming from Nick,
09:48 really simple, really effective.
09:50 Hopefully it's something that Amanda can take forward
09:52 with her game to help her shoot lower scores.
09:54 And hopefully there's some bits in there
09:56 that might help you as well,
09:58 as you play golf in the future.
09:59 But that's it for now from Wentworth.
10:01 Thanks very much for watching.
10:02 We'll see you next time.
10:03 (upbeat music)
10:05 (upbeat music)
10:08 (upbeat music)